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Kelian Archibald Rigson
Background Kelian Archibald Rigson was born into a small farming family, based in Westfall. He grew up helping on the fields with his brothers, Talin and Frikki, and his neighbour Nairali Fornavente. When Kelian became eighteen, he left with Nairali to explore the world. This did not, as per norm, go as planned. Nairali went into a life of crime, becoming a professional thief based in Stormwind, whilst Kelian went to Pyrewood with Tiran Smith , Ammath and Avery to study magic under the name of Veneficus Instructus. Kelian furthered his studies in alchemy with Veneficus Instructus, before leaving to pursue his Listener career and to study pyromancy in Northrend. Veneficus Instructus Era Veneficus Studies During Kelian's time studying under the watchful eye of Tiran, he developed a particular taste for Pyromancy. He studied this particular school of Arcane usage under Lady Joanna's teachings, as well as getting help from the Blood Elf mage, Ammath. Whilst on his first mission with the organisation, which consisted of making Pyrewood habitable and travelling there with supplies from the south, the group was trapped in a barn by an attacking horde of Worgen. After a brief battle the barn had been set alight accidently by Kelian's then uncontrollable pyromancy, and during the attack Kelian had lost his arm to a vicious Worgen jaw. Tiran took him to Dalaran where a gnome Arcomech replaced the stump with an arcane-infused mechanical lower arm, which Kelian began to experiment with. Eventually, the arm was packed with small gadgets such as a flare-thrower and multiple blades. Kelian became very interested with experimentation as a result, and became Veneficus Instructus' Alchemist for a brief period. This went well for Kelian, but he eventually lost interest in the profession and continued his normal magical studies. The Listeners The farm network Kelian was brought up on had been attacked while Veneficus was setting up in Pyrewood, so he returned to find his father and mother dead. His brothers, he was told, had joined the Stormwind Armed Forces and were stationed in Northrend, so had not been present. If they had been, the attack may well could have been stopped. Kelian soon learned that the attackers had been a large force of bandits who were widly known in the southern jungles of Stranglethorn, and set himself a personal goal to avenge the deaths of his family and neighbours. This vendetta and the following murders of the bandits drew Kelian to the attention of an assassin, named Glares Und, who led an underworld organisation named the Listeners. Glares approached Kelian, and offered Kelian a place as a Night Runner, one of the mass ranks of the organisation. Kelian studyed melée combat and stealth tactics under a Listener named Rylles, who became Kelian's personal mentor and contact. After a while, Kelian was released from the Listener temple, in Stranglethorn, and travelled back to Pyrewood to continue his pyromancy studies with Veneficus, whilst ocassionally recieving contracts from Rylles. Tiran did not know of Kelian's secret life until a personal visit from Glares, who wanted Kelian to leave Pyrewood and go to Northrend with the Listeners to continue his succession of assassination and other jobs. Tiran responded by making Glares and the Listeners hostile to Veneficus. Kelian then proceeded to cut down on Listener communication, keeping things in utter secrecy. The only time Kelian was exposed was in a failed mission where he attempted and failed to take Jale Auris's life in Stormwind. The Northrend Campaign From Dalaran to Grizzly Hills Kelian was expelled from Veneficus Instructus and made a personal enemy by Tiran, who wrongly believed Kelian had betrayed them and killed Veneficus men during a battle against the Syndicate. He thus joined the Listeners as a full time assassin, working in Northrend as the Northrend Campaign began. At first, Kelian helped the Alliance out heavily, and used his money from the contracts to buy weaponry and armour which he would then supply to the Alliance forces, in particular the Fifth Brigade. This lasted until the armies of the Alliance and Horde moved to Icecrown. It was at this time Kelian began to find he had a natural talent in pyromancy. Whilst his other Arcane studies were average, his pyromancy skills flourished. He began to experiment with various combat styles, and after months of testing and training, developed a unique style of fighting, blending his pyromancy with his quick blade combat. Glares contacted Kelian, telling him that Rylles had been captured and executed by Rhonin for his crimes against the Kirin Tor, and set Kelian a highly difficult task of infiltrating the Violet Citadel and attempting to silence Rhonin. This failed, but Kelian managed to critically wound Rhonin's right leg, allowing a hasty escape, but Kelian's identity was found out quite easily from Veneficus Instructus members and Kelian was marked a wanted man by Rhonin. During the Northrend campaign Kelian rose to controlling the Listener activities in Eastern Northrend, his specific Listener sub-group, the "Blackrose" Listeners, based in the Grizzly Hills. From there he set countless jobs to the Blackrose Listeners spanning the whole of Northrend in target locations. Kelian continued to develop his pyromancy and his melée abilities whilst orchestrating the organisation, gaining new knowledge in Arcane and developing combinations of pyromancy and duel-blade fighting. From Wintergarde to Icecrown Kelian's first major loss was in Wintergarde Keep, Dragonblight, where he came across Viola Havencloud who was being mind-controlled by another being. In one particular crazed moment, she attacked Kelian, who attempted to non-lethally subdue her, only to have his face burnt off by an alchemical bomb Viola had. Kelian turned to the gnome who made him the mechanical arm to give him a facemask that could keep him from agony and to help heal the burns, which destroyed much of his face, and that was also intimidating. Kelian thus devised a new persona as "Darkmask", and began to start completing more brutal tasks such as public assassinations and horrific styles of murder. Kelian actually took part in the downfall of the Lich King, however he was disguised. Not even those closest to him knew about his presence there. After the Lich King had fallen, Kelian left fairly quickly, taking what loot he could. Once the Northrend Campaign was complete and the armies stationed there began to return to the rest of Azeroth, Kelian left the Listeners, slaying all of those in his camps with the aid of his new partner, a frost mage named Forek. He gave up on the "Darkmask" persona, and moved back to Pyrewood, where the remains of the Veneficus village were left empty. Tiran Smith had become a Worgen, and Veneficus Instructus had crumbled. The Ark - Beginnings Throughout the Northrend campaign, Kelian had developed a large conflict with Rhonin, leader of the Kirin Tor. Some believed this was because of them disagreeing over a magical sword found in Coldarra, however the true reason for this was that Glares had obtained a very powerful magical artifact, named the Ark. Kelian soon found out that the Ark could help him to expand his influence and power, and sought Glares out, attempting to capture the Ark from him. Rhonin, however, wanted the Ark for the Kirin Tor to safeguard and study, and soon enough their paths crossed, resulting in various small battles. Glares was eventually found by Forek Darrius, a Listener, and was exposed to be part of an organisation named the Ark Knights, or Arkaned. The Arkaned were all obssessed by the Ark, and had kept it safe for many years since it fell to Azeroth in an odd looking asteroid. The Arkaned believed that the Ark was an engine that would take them to other planets, and had spent months in Northrend utilising the increases in technology to try and build a machine that the Ark could be used in. Kelian and Rhonin effectively declared war on each other, first through the Listeners and then through Veneficus Mortus. The Ark was eventually captured by Rhonin and was held in the Violet Citadel. This seemed the end of the conflict to most people, but following a very elaborate infiltration and theft, Kelian had the Ark at last. He attempted to use it, resulting in his magical skills rising dramatically. He delivered the Ark back to the Listener base in the Grizzly Hills, and left it for a few months. The Kirin Tor thus began to directly attack the Listeners in full-on assaults, but the Ark was not claimed as of yet. Veneficus Mortus Era Veneficus Instructus Reborn From Pyrewood, Kelian called up those Veneficus Instructus members who had not been hostile towards him, and began to create a new Veneficus Instructus amongst the ruins. This was successful, although after an attack by a neighbouring magic guild, they moved to Kelian's old Listener base set on Bloodmoon Isle. The reclamation of the Isle was made possible by Juddas Rigson, who claimed to be Kelian's son by blood (Kelian had accidently left a Goldshire tavern wench pregnant and fled from her). Juddas and Kelian developed an interesting relationship, as Juddas aspired to be a necromancer whilst Kelian was actively against necromancy and shadowmancy. Kelian took in his childhood friend, Nairali, and created a mind-link between them, so that they could communicate and even control each other with permission. Kelian then developed psionic powers, as did Nairali. In an experiment, Nairali's mind was half-destroyed by Kelian, allowing Rigson to control his body and mind. A number of battles began around the Isle from Kirin Tor and other guilds, and Kelian and Juddas' relationship began to fail badly. Giving up on trying to teach magic due to the Bloodmoon Siege, Kelian renamed the organisation as "Veneficus Mortus", telling all the students to either become militants against the attacking guilds or to leave. Many did leave, damning Bloodmoon Isle to destruction. Juddas became an undead and joined the Forsaken, and Kelian abandoned his fortified Isle, as well as the secret labs underneath its land, which was focused on a magical element named Chinate. Kelian made deals with Father Hades of the Forsaken, and they managed to rescue much of the Chinate. The Kirin Tor then expanded out, assuming the Isle as its own. Whilst the Isle was a huge blow to Kelian, his troubles were worsened as he found out the Ark had been claimed by Kirin Tor agents, and was back in Rhonin's hands. The Ark - Larius and the Gulmegil When Bloodmoon Isle fell, Kelian was trapped by a powerful Shadowmancer named Larius, who bound Kelian's soul to an orb. Kelian thus joined other warriors and magi who had been similarly trapped, called the Gulmegil, in Larius' Tower based in Redridge. When Larius died of illness, the Gulmegil and Kelian broke free, maintaining the powers Larius had endowed them with. Kelian became leader of the Gulmegil, hiding out in Larius' tower in Redridge. He took them to Northrend, and reclaimed the Ark after brutally murdering a squad of Kirin Tor agents. Post-Mortus and Execution Kelian was still heavily wanted by Rhonin, and he was captured by a bounty hunter named Polok in Deadwind Pass. He was brought to Stormwind, where he was handed over to Kirin Tor officials. Once in Dalaran, there was a very short court to determine how Kelian would be executed. Rhonin declared he would be disintegrated. Once Kelian was dead, there seemed to be a drop in organised crime in the Eastern Kingdoms. Spektre Era Whilst the Alliance and Horde were in Deepholm with many adventurers rolling up to aid against Deathwing, a masked man named Spektre arrived and alienated himself from everyone but one mage, Seveanna Kinleth, and her then-partner, Salentharial. Spektre aided in the various missions, and even slew the notable Twilight Reaver Kordravin. However, as Seveanna broke up with Salentharial, and began to get filled with anger, she exposed Spektre as being the returned Kelian Rigson, which made sense to many people due to the fact Spektre used a blend of extreme pyromancy, stealth and duel-weilding melée attacks. As Spektre was exposed, he fled, angred as he had tried to start life again as a hero, only to have yet another bounty placed on his head, and losing the trust of all, including Seveanna who he most trusted. Trivia *Kelian's favorite meal is known to be roast beef. His favorite wine is Dalaran Red, despite his hatred of the city. *The number of battles Kelian has been in is unknown, however he has had 9 broken ribs, a full-face burn, lost an arm and been stabbed non-fatally 11 times. *Despite Tiran making Kelian his enemy, Kelian strived to try and regain Tiran's trust. However this was not successful, as whenever they'd meet they would end up fighting. *Kelian's accent was Westfallian, but with time he grew to speaking in the Noble speech of Stormwind. *Kelian has two flameforms, one in a humanoid shape, another in a large cloud of embers. *His blades were taken from his master, Rylles, and are enchanted to allow incredibly subtle cuts. One such example of using the blades is when Kelian assassinated the merchant named Raul Garthin in Stormwind. Despite his heart being stabbed, no blood escaped the wound. *Kelian's most trusted allies have included Lysandria, Juddas, Forek, Tiran, Ammath and Seveanna. Lately, however, all but Forek have either lost contact, become MIA or gone against him. *Nairali was manipulated by Kelian during Northrend, and thus "became" Kelian for a short period of time. *Kelian is actually a Gulmegil, having once been soulbound to Larius the Shadowmancer. *He's been known to get very friendly to tavern wenches.